The closest look ever at native human tissue

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This 3-D reconstruction of a human skin cell was produced by electron tomography and shows organelles in different colours: regions of cell-cell contact (sandy brown) nucleus and nuclear envelope (blue) with pores (red) microtubules (green) mitochond ...
This 3-D reconstruction of a human skin cell was produced by electron tomography and shows organelles in different colours: regions of cell-cell contact (sandy brown), nucleus and nuclear envelope (blue) with pores (red), microtubules (green), mitochondria (purple), endoplasmic reticulum (steel blue). Credit: Achilleas Frangakis EMBL

Seeing proteins in their natural environment and interactions inside cells has been a long-standing goal. Using an advanced microscopy technique called cryo-electron tomography, researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory [EMBL] have visualised proteins responsible for cell-cell contacts for the first time. In this week’s issue of Nature they publish the first 3D image of human skin at molecular resolution and reveal the molecular Velcro-like organisation that interlinks cells.


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